A young teenager on a deep-sea fishing trip this week in New England hauled in a 177lb (80kg) Atlantic halibut, a fish bigger and heavier than he is, and one that could be a world record.
Jackson Denio, a 13-year-old from Hampton, New Hampshire, was fishing about 100 miles (160km) off the New England coast on Cashes Ledge, a spot known for its underwater peaks and biodiversity in the Gulf of Maine, on Monday morning.
Suddenly, he realized he had caught something huge.
“I think I screamed, honestly,” said Denio, who weighs about 120lbs and is 5ft 9in tall. “I don’t know exactly what happened, but I was very excited.”
Denio had set out on Sunday with about 30 others on an overnight charter trip. After everyone had caught plenty of pollack and other fish, Denio told the crew he wanted to catch a shark. Conservationists frown on fishing for sharks, with many species under threat, even though it is popular among many as a sport and for commercial use.
The crew suggested that the boy fish at the bottom, and minutes after he dropped his hook with pollack as bait on it, Denio got a hit and knew it was big.
Denio struggled for about 30 minutes to reel in as the huge halibut fought for its life. He brought it near the boat only to have it dive back down but he was eventually able to get the fish to the surface, guided by the crew and cheered on by fellow passengers.
“I’m standing there watching him. Then all of a sudden the fish took off it, bit it and started pounding away,” said Jim Walsh, the captain of the vessel that Denio was on. “I looked at him and I said: ‘Were you on the bottom?’ And he goes: ‘Yes.’ And I said: ‘You don’t have a shark.’”
Walsh said he was impressed with Denio’s composure during the episode.
“He did not let go once. He never let anybody else touch the rod. And he worked him, worked him. Then eventually, the fish starts to tire out,” Walsh said. “Even though he’s that big, they got to tire. Then he got it up to the surface. That’s when we looked and went: ‘Oh my God.’ We were all ecstatic.”
Before the fish was carved up, Denio officially got it weighed and took photos and video of it, and he has provided other information about his fishing gear that will go into an application for a world record with the International Game Fish Association. The family plans to file an application for the junior record for Atlantic halibut and one for the category that includes all fish.